DE 963 223 is concerned with machines for closing bottles and other vessels with crown caps. These machines have cap mills that supply the crown caps from a cap container. The cap mills allow the caps, when in the correct position, to fall into a channel that leads to the closing head.
In order to obtain an alignment of the crown caps such that the inside is always placed onto the mouth opening of the container, DE 963 223 proposes providing two discs located on a plane, one above the other, at the outlet of the cap mill and circulating in the same direction, with magnets being located in said discs. The crown cap abutting against the bottom disc by way of the cover is conveyed into a channel and directly supplied to the closing head. The crown cap abutting by way of its flange is detected by the magnets of the top disc, is guided via the rotation of the discs, and in this manner conveyed into a channel and supplied to the closing head. Consequently a forced alignment of the crown caps is obtained by using a magnetic sorting means, the crown cap being oriented in each case with its cover up and its flange down.
Containers of the afore-mentioned type can be used, for example, as bottles for liquids, for example for beverages. The containers, e.g. bottles, can be produced from a transparent or translucent material, for example glass or a translucent plastic material, e.g. PET. However, it is also conceivable for the containers to be produced from other materials and to be fillable with other liquid products.
The filled containers are supplied, for example, to a labelling machine. Before labelling, the containers are rotated into a particular position at an alignment station such that the labels are always located in an identical position on the respective container. To rotate a container into the correct position, the alignment station includes a detecting system that was one or more detecting subsystems. The detecting system detects development features, for example, embossings on the container, in relation to which the labels or other characteristics are to be aligned and precisely positioned. By using the detecting system, development features throught the entire circumference of the container can be detected.
The containers, which are mounted on rotating turntables are moved past the detecting system. Once the containers have passed the detecting system, a signal generated by the detecting system causes the turntables to rotate into the desired position. Once the container has been correctly aligned, it is then labeled. As a result of the cooperation of the detecting system, the labels are always aligned identically and as desired in relation to the development features.
However, before the labelling operation the container is closed by the closure element.
In many cases, the closure element to exhibit a decoration or detecting symbol, for example a symbol of the beverage manufacturer. In practice, the closure elements, with their decoration or detecting symbol located on the cover are applied randomly with reference to the development features of the container. This means that once the bottles are labelled, the decorations on the closure elements will also be randomly oriented relative to the labels. Thus, even though the labels have been carefully aligned on the container to produce an aesthetically pleasing package, the closure element, because of its random orientation, very often ruins the entire carefully orchestrated presentation.
There are also containers that have no development features. As a result, there is no good way to align the labels on the containers. When viewed together with the closure elements, which are not aligned with reference to the labels or similar characteristics either, the resulting presentation is most unattractive to the consumer.